You Are 1, Jason!

Can it be?  Jason has turned 1?  Our cute little Texas man has turned one whole year old?  And what a year it has been!?

We went with something a bit more simple for his birthday but I still got to practice some decorating "skills."  I was going for individual cupcakes with the rose/flower look on top.  It seemed to come out and everyone got their own cake.  Jason really liked the flame on the candle!

But he was like the other kids and didn't get quite as messy with the cake (much to the chagrin of the dog who was hoping for lost pieces of chocolate cake!).

And now everyone has Legos and a pillow pet of their very own!  We are looking forward to another fun year with you, Jason!  Happy Birthday!

Happy 5th Birthday, Jack!

Jack went for a unique birthday theme.  He wanted a Minecraft cake.  Well, I've never made or even seen a Minecraft cake.  After the kids and Shawn showed me what one looked like, I decided to try it.  It was my second time using fondant but my first time enclosing a cake in it.  I guess it didn't come out half bad.  The kids said it was tasty and even enjoyed playing with the leftover fondant.

No, John!  Don't eat all of the cake!

But Jack is glad to be 5!  It means he gets to go to school all day long and be a big kid!

 

Pure happiness from little gifts like Legos, Pokemon, and How to Train Your Dragon.  Happy birthday, Jack Jack! 

It's Great to Be 8, Kelsey!

We loved having family and friends come support Kelsey as she was baptized on July 12th!  We had such a great day!  And Kelsey looked beautiful!  We are so proud of you, Kelsey!

She has some great memories of this day!  I can't believe she's already 8 and looking so grown up.

Awwww....poor unhappy, Jason. But the rest of the kiddos look happy!  Thanks for being a great sister!  We love you, Kelsey Woo!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Linda's birthday had a bit of excitement surrounding it...and not just because it was a birthday!  We were celebrating Kelsey's upcoming baptism and Macher came to visit.  So we had loads to celebrate!  In the meantime, Linda had been practicing her cake decorating skills and came up with a way to decorate a cake for herself and Macher to share.  It was pretty and yummy!

Happy Birthday!

This Is Embarassing

Here I thought it had only been a couple of months that I'd neglected the blog.  Don't I feel sheepish to find it's been a LOT longer.  Well, let me update with a few posts...they'll come out a few days from each other.  Now, where were we...?  Last entry was in early July...

Ahhhh...summer projects will be the first entry...

  

I decided that a summer without anything to do would just be too long and BORING for everyone involved.  So...since there are some life skills that seem to be missing these days, I'd introduce them to the kiddos and see what happened.

  

We broke up the week into different "events" and one of those days happened to be a sewing day.  We started with fabric coasters and moved to treasure bags and then to Stuff-tees (drawn animal shapes stuffed with poly-fil).  The kids did some really great work with these!

 

We also had an art day which varied in medium from chalk, Play-doh, and even fondant.  The kids shaped, molded and colored some pretty cool art pieces.  They were very proud.

Just turn your monitor...hah!

  But it was a successful summer and we will probably do some of it again next year!

How many?

How many people does it take to cut this super cute 10 month old's hair? Answer, three, one to cut, one to help and one to film the hilarity. 

Our Garden "Friend"

It was only a matter of time before we saw one of these in our yard and garden.  I am hoping he helps take care of some of the bugs that would otherwise eat my tomatoes.  But he will hide in the drain holes and emerge when I fill the buckets with water.  Since there are a few oak leaves in the bottom and he's the color of the leaves, he has a perfect hiding spot so birds won't come eat him.  Welcome to Texas!